South Korean steel manufacturer POSCO is leading a consortium that includes automaker Hyundai, auto parts supplier SL, electric motor developer Polepair Electric, and several Korean universities and research institutes. The consortium aims to develop electrical steel sheets with 6.5% silicon content for more efficient EV drive motors.
Electrical steel is a core material in electric motors, and its silicon content has a direct effect on how efficiently a motor runs. As silicon content rises, the steel dissipates less energy as iron loss, the power lost during high-speed rotation, and motor efficiency improves. But a higher silicon content also makes the steel brittle and harder to roll into the thin, wide sheets that motor cores require. Standardizing a mass-production process for wide sheets of this high-silicon steel is a hurdle that global steelmakers are competing to clear.
At the project’s kickoff meeting in Pohang, the participants signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build an integrated development system spanning the full value chain, from raw-material development and motor-core fabrication to drive-motor manufacturing and efficiency testing in actual vehicles. The consortium’s goal is to develop the manufacturing technology for the 6.5% silicon sheets and then validate their performance in real EV drive motors.
“This collaboration represents a pivotal turning point where the steel and future mobility industries join forces to usher in the era of electrification,” said Cho Myung-jong, Head of Future Steel R&D Center at POSCO.
Source: POSCO
